thoughts (and links) of a retired "social scientist" as he tries to make sense of the world.....

what you get here

This is not a blog which expresses instant opinions on current events. It rather uses incidents, books (old and new), links and papers as jumping-off points for some reflections about our social endeavours.

So old posts are as good as new! And lots of useful links!

Thursday, May 18, 2017

For
the past ten years I’ve been lucky enough to have a foot in both Bulgaria and
Romania, spending most summers in my Carpathian mountain redoubt and winters in
Sofia; with occasional forays to Bucharest. One of the delights of my
semi-nomadic existence has been the rediscovery each year of my libraries in
these places – particularly the extensive one in my village home near Bran in
Translyvania where I have been since Monday. At 1,400 metres, the barometer
registers only 10 degrees - despite the sun!

I
have, for example, just opened the Introduction to Clive James’ 876 page Cultural Amnesia– notes in the Margin of My Time (2007) – copies of which
I keep in both the Bucharest and the mountain house and which must be
considered one of the most original tributes to cultural figures ever published
(including entries on Coco Channel, Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong and 4
Manns!). You can get a sense of the book in this Slate journal review and it
is further discussed on his amazing website.

He
has been a voracious reader (of far more novels than I) and, indeed, annotator
of books – reading many of the European books (including Russian) in their
original language, His book is a tribute to the spirit of liberty which so many
of the writers celebrated in the book kept alive.

And
his introduction made me realize that my
blog is at least partly a tribute to those writers who have kept me company at
one time or another on my journey of the past half century or more. A
couple of years ago I listed the 50 or so books which have made an impact on me here –
and here.
In
what I call the “restless search for the new”, we would do well to pause every
now and then and cast our minds back to such books and try to identify the
“perennial wisdom” embodied therein….

The
one frustrating thing about a blog is that it gives a reverse image of reality
– with the most recent post coming first and the reader then required to scroll
down several times to see older posts……Noone these days has that sort of
patience…..whereas a book format allows you to begin at…….…the beginning.

I’ve
therefore begun to upload the 2017 posts in book form – with the tentative title
Common
Endeavour. This includes an updated version of my Sceptic’s Glossary as an annex – being my provocative definition of
some 100 plus terms used in the questionable discourse of our elites. I’ve set
this in the context of texts (and images) which I’ve found useful in the
puncturing of their pretensions…..

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

It was some months ago that I first mentioned the P2P Foundation which
sends me at least a couple of interesting posts daily eg here
and here

Their
posts have also made me aware of the potential of what they call “platform
cooperativism” with reservations which are well reflected in another of their posts. One
of the problems I have is their language – and the feeling that they are
unaware of the wider experience of “mutuality” expressed in the work, for
example, of Paul Hirst.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

I
had some issues with aspects of the presentation and have just come across this diagram which, for me, offers a clearer
outline of the features of a better system – one called a
“solidarity economy”

Yes
I realise that you can't read the small print! For that, justclick
the diagram.

The
author has a short paper which superbly situates the concept in the wider
context of an
emerging global movement of the past two decades in which even yours truly
became involved as far back as 1978 - when I launched a community-based project
designed to help the long-term unemployed access jobs which would contribute
missing local services in poor areas.

Within
a decade, it had become a well-resourced Community Business in the West of
Scotland – part of a wider social enterprise effort within Scotland and Europe
which continues to this day.

This
choice betrays a certain “patrician” position – not too “tribal”…….although my
initial google search limited itself to such epithets as “left”, “progressive”,
“green”;; “radical” and “humanist”. It threw up a couple of lists – one with “progressive” titles,
the other with
“secular” . From
these, I have extracted the other titles which might lay some claims to
satisfying the stringent criteria set above…..

After due consideration, I would now add Book Forum,Brain Pickings, Literary
Hub and Public Booksto the small list of my current regular reads – although I wish
there were an English version of Lettre International or even Courrier
International

Academic journals

I
would not normally deign academic journals with a second glance since theirs is
an incestuous breed – with arcane language and specialized focus which breaches
at least two of the above five tests. But Political
Quarterly stands apart with the superbly written (social democratic)
analyses which have been briefing us for almost a century.

Self-styled “Radical“ journals seem, curiously, to be gaining strength at precisely the moment the left is collapsing everywhere and got a not
unfair treatment here ….

Beyond
the small grove of explicitly revolutionary titles lies a vast forest of
critical publications. From “Action Research” to “Anarchist
Studies”, from “Race and Class” to “Review of Radical Political
Economics”, an impressive array of dissident ventures appears to be thriving. As
Western capitalism jabs repeatedly at the auto-destruct button, it may seem
only logical that rebel voices are getting louder. But logic has nothing to do
it with it. Out in the real world, the Left is moribund. Socialism has become a
heritage item. Public institutions, including UK universities, are ever more
marketised. Alternatives seem in short supply.

So,
far from being obvious, the success of radical journals is a bit of a puzzle.
And they have proved they have staying power. The past few years have seen a
clutch of titles entering late middle age, including those in the Marxist
tradition, such as “New Left Review” (founded 1960), “Critique” (1973)
and “Capital and Class” (1977), as well as more broadly critical
ventures, such as “Transition” (1961) and “Critical Inquiry” (1974).
Numerous other titles have emerged in the intervening years. And they are still
coming.Recent
titles include “Power and Education”, “Journal of Critical
Globalisation Studies” and “Human Geography: A New Radical Journal”.
Of course, some disciplines provide more fertile soil for such ventures than
others. In cultural studies, politics, geography and sociology, radicalism has
entered the mainstream. But even the more stony ground of economics nurtures a
wide assortment of dissident titles.

A
concept with unrealized potential, I feel, is that of the “global roundup” ”
with selections of representative writing from around the globe. Courrier international is a good,
physical, Francophone example – the others being “virtual” or E-journals eg Arts and Letters Daily a good literary,
anglo-saxon exemplar; The Intercept a
political one; with Eurozine taking the
main award for its selection of the most interesting articles from Europe’s 80
plus cultural journals

I learn one main thing from this review - how tribal most journals are. Most seem to cater for a niche political market. Only N+1 (and the New Yorker) makes an effort to cover the world of ideas from a broader standpoint...The lead articles which Eurozine gives us from different parts of Europe makes it an interesting read; and Political Quarterly is a model for clear writing - even if it is a bit too British in its scope.

But
I give away both my age and agnostic tendencies when I say that my favourite
journal remains "Encounter" which was shockingly revealed in the late 80s to have been partially
funded by the CIA and which therefore shut up shop in 1990....

A
generation of outstanding European thinkers emerged out of the rubble of World
War II. It was a group unparalleled in their probing of an age that had
produced totalitarianism as a political norm, and the Holocaust as its supreme
nightmarish achievement. Figures ranging from George Lichtheim, Ignazio Silone,
Raymond Aron, Andrei Amalrik, among many others, found a home
in Encounter. None stood taller or saw further than Francois Bondy of
Zurich.

European Notebooks contains most of the articles that Bondy (1915-2003) wrote
for Encounter under the stewardship of Stephen Spender, Irving
Kristol, and then for the thirty years that Melvin Lasky served as editor.
Bondy was that rare unattached intellectual, "free of every totalitarian
temptation" and, as Lasky notes, unfailing in his devotion to the
liberties and civilities of a humane social order. European
Notebooks offers a window into a civilization that came to maturity during
the period in which these essays were written.

Bondy's essays themselves represent a broad sweep of major figures and events
in the second half of the twentieth century. His spatial outreach went from
Budapest to Tokyo and Paris. His political essays extended from George Kennan
to Benito Mussolini. And his prime metier, the cultural figures of Europe,
covered Sartre, Kafka, Heidegger and Milosz. The analysis was uniformly fair
minded but unstinting in its insights. Taken together, the variegated themes he
raised in his work as a Zurich journalist, a Paris editor, and a
European homme de lettres sketch guidelines for an entrancing
portrait of the intellectual as cosmopolitan.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Blog
traffic has been increasing here – hitting 10,000 last month for the first time
(a 3-fold increase since last year) and now totaling 200,000 for the entire
period since 2010.

Native English speakers account for only one third of that
(almost 30% comes from the US alone) – with Russian and Ukraine readers coming
in (in the past year) at a strong 15% share.

It’s not idle speculation to feel
that part of this latter interest may be a reflection of official Russian
oversights of western blogs and accounts – although I don’t get any comments on
posts from that source - perhaps because it’s not been my policy to comment on Russian
politics and Putin’s intentions?

But
why the strong interest from Ukrainian readers? After all, recent posts have,
if anything been even more “reflective” than usual, trying to put recent events
in a fifty-year timescale….. And it's not easy for those used to cyrillic to cope with the roman alphabet....

Readers
in France, Germany, Bulgaria and Romania account for some 20% of the traffic –
the latter two for obvious reasons. I’ve blogged quite a bit on Germany (indeed
put a little E-book up on the list at the top-right corner of the blog) and am
pleased to find readers from that source.

It’s
a dreadful reflection on how British insularity has grown that the last English-language book which gave a
really detailed insight into French society (in all its regional variety) was
John Ardagh’s France
in the New Century (1999). Theodor Zeldin’s History
of French Passions and “The French” (published in the early 90s) gave an
additional quasi-philosophical dimension. But these books first came out some
20 years ago.

The
French, of course, are the ideologues par excellence not least the French left – with Jean Jaures perhaps
being its most inspirational figure. But I remember being trapped in a church
in Lille when Francois Mitterand came visiting in the 1980s - and being
decidedly unimpressed with the atmosphere of obsequity! Despite
the decentralization policy of that period, the country has remained
centralized – and its periphery ignored….until now..

The
Brits are the pragmatic shopkeepers – and its left had, post-war, real moral
strength from the likes of RH Tawney, Keir Hardie and Aneurin Bevan; the
Cooperative and union movements; its various (liberal and New Left) intellectual
dissenters. But they could never get their act together – and then the Bliar
spin doctors took over and blew everything up….

Friday, May 5, 2017

After
10 years (this September) of living in Bulgaria (alternately with Romania), I
thought I knew my Bulgarian wines – at least the whites to which my metabolism still
allows me access.

I
had, after all, spent full weekends at the last three of Sofia’s most recent
annual wine fairs (which take place in November) – and duly swilled, spat and carefully
awarded my scores (out of 5.0) in the little note books with which they supply
you….

But
that was before I stumbled on the superb new little wine-shop Tempus Vini here in Sofia since last autumn. Kallin’s in his thirties and will shortly qualify as a
sommelier – which shows, since he is the first person I’ve met in more than
five decades of appreciating wine who has actually helped me understand why I
get the variable impressions I do on my palate and throat when I swill, view,
smell and then first hold the liquid on my tongue and then lei it trickle down the back of my teeth…..and
into my throat….Quietly, with no pretensions, he offers his various
explanations – which have deeply enriched my wine experience..

I’ve
been able to visit his k(Aladd)in’s cave every few days since February – each time tasting about three whites, discussing the effects and then moving
on to get reasons - and directions for future tastings…..all the while updating
my copy of the little Catalogue
of Bulgarian Wines which the KA and TA team produces annually in time for
the Sofia wine fair and which carries the details of more than 150 wineries in
the country…... Kallin’s policy is not to stock the wines found in the
supermarkets – but he will happily find and deliver a crate for you – which he
did when I recently found an amazing
Riesling/Varnenski Misket from Varna Winery
(at 5 euros)

The
result has been a delightful educational experience – with the drawback that
each year’s harvests are always different… (last year’s wines began to come
into the shop in April) and that I am becoming more daring in buying bottles at
6 euros!!

Remember
that Sofia boasts quite a few of these enticing shops where you can buy
regional wine in barrels and caskets – for 2 euros a litre! My favourite is one (near the Eagle Bridge) that stocks Karlovo wines – including the famous Chateau
Copsa and its Karlovski Misket

At
the beginning of the year I was particularly impressed with the Miskets
(particularly Sandanski and Karlovski); then moved on to Muscat; Viognier; Tramin;
and Dimiat; discovered the amazing Macedonian
Stobi range; moved back to Moscato Bianco; and cuvees such as Chardonnay/Sauvignon
Blanc. Last week Kallin gave us a presentation of wines from Malketa Zvezda – the Enigma
range

Last
night I tried a bottle with a rare blend of Chardonnay (85%) and Tamianka in
the Symbiose range produced by Bratanov winery
– from the same (southern) part of the country

Little
wonder that when I visited my dentist yesterday, she commented on how happy I
looked!Again - it proves that independent shops offer so much more value than supermarkets!

It’s a clear and tough analysis
by a top-class economic historian of why socialism lost its way – and
exploration of what it will take for it to restore its energies. If you want to
get a sense of the range of arguments which have convulsed economists and
activists over the past century, this is the book for you.

About Me

Can be contacted at bakuron2003@yahoo.co.uk
Political refugee from Thatcher's Britain (or rather Scotland) who has been on the move since 1991. First in central Europe - then from 1999 Central Asia and Caucasus. Working on EU projects - related to building capacity of local and central government. Home base is an old house in the Carpathian mountains and Sofia

about the blog

Writing in my field is done by academics - and gives little help to individuals who are struggling to survive in or change public bureaucracies. Or else it is propoganda drafted by consultants and officials trying to talk up their reforms. And most of it covers work at a national level - whereas most of the worthwhile effort is at a more local level. The restless search for the new dishonours the work we have done in the past. As Zeldin once said - "To have a new vision of the future it is first necessary to have new vision of the past".I therefore started this blog to try to make sense of the organisational endeavours I've been involved in; to see if there are any lessons which can be passed on; to restore a bit of institutional memory and social history - particularly in the endeavour of what used to be known as "social justice". My generation believed that political activity could improve things - that belief is now dead and that cynicism threatens civilisationI also read a lot and wanted to pass on the results of this to those who have neither the time or inclination -as well as my love of painting, particularly the realist 20th century schools of Bulgaria and Belgium.A final motive for the blog is more complicated - and has to do with life and family. Why are we here? What have we done with our life? What is important to us? Not just professional knowledge - but what used to be known, rather sexistically, as "wine, women and song" - for me now in the autumn of my life as wine, books and art....

quotes

“I will act as if what I do makes a difference”
William James 1890.

"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas"
JM Keynes (1935)

"We've spent half a century arguing over management methods. If there are solutions to our confusions over government, they lie in democratic not management processes"
JR Saul (1992)

"There are four sorts of worthwhile learning - learning about · oneself
· learning about things
· learning how others see us
· learning how we see others"
E. Schumacher (author of "Small is Beautiful" (1973) and Guide for the Perplexed (1977))

"The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."
Bertrand Russell, 1950

Followers

der arme Dichter (Carl Spitzweg)

my alter ego

the other site

In 2008 I set up a website in the (vain) hope of developing a dialogue around issues of public administration reform - particularly in transition countries where I have been living and working for the past 26 years. The site is www.freewebs.com/publicadminreform and contains the major papers I have written over the years about my attempts to reform various public organisations in the various roles which I've had - politician; academic/trainer; consultant.